PIPE DREAMS LIVE THE SURREAL LIFE OF RENE MAGRITTE AT LACMA.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

With puffy, white clouds on the carpet and a wallpaper of intersecting freeways on the ceiling, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's playful new exhibit devoted to the impact of Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte offers an amusing, intriguing afternoon ramble.

Featuring 68 paintings and drawings by Magritte, including many of his signature works, plus an equal number of pieces in various media by 31 contemporary artists, the show illustrates the ways in which pop culture has borrowed Magritte's ideas and imagery.

At the center of the exhibition is a Magritte masterpiece -- ``The Treachery of Images (This Is Not a Pipe)'' (1929). Below a realistic image of a pipe, Magritte has written ``ceci n'est pas une pipe,'' meaning ``this is not a pipe.'' The simple phrase illustrates the fact that the painting does not contain a pipe, but merely the image of one.

Magritte's (1898-1967) witty exploration of the distance between images and language in this and many other pieces challenges the viewer's interpretation. Concepts such as unexpected shifts in scale and the use of images from popular culture came a generation before pop artists such as Andy Warhol (whose 1965 silkscreen of Jackie Kennedy is part of the exhibit) began doing the same sort of thing. Other modern Magritte-tinged artists on display include Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Vija Celmins, Robert Gober, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha.

``There's a sense of slyness in his work and a dark side that has an edge to it,'' said Stephanie Barron, LACMA senior curator of modern art, who co-curated the Magritte exhibit with Michel Draguet, director of the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. ``Some of the images make you smile, but some make you feel uncomfortable at the same time.''

Along with delightful artwork on the walls, floors and ceilings, the exhibit (designed by Los Angeles conceptual artist Baldessari) is a surreal environment in itself.

The gallery entrance is a scaled rendition of Magritte's surrealistic door in ``The Unexpected Answer (La reponse imprevue)'' (1933). A scrim printed with a photograph of the Manhattan skyline at night hangs over a window facing Wilshire Boulevard, creating a disorienting shift of reality while also referencing Magritte's use of windows in his paintings.

And the museum's security officers maintain the spirit of Magritte by wearing black bowler hats similar to those depicted in ``Decalcomania'' (1966).

``The idea is that you enter a different world, where things are turned upside down,'' Barron said. ``A place where, instead of seeing Wilshire Boulevard out the window, you see New York at night. It helps you in a way to suspend `normal reality' and put yourself in an environment that is surreal in nature.''

Fred Shuster, [phone]

[e-mail]

MAGRITTE AND CONTEMPORARY ART: THE TREACHERY OF IMAGES

Where: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: Noon to 8 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; noon to 9 p.m. Fridays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Closed Wednesdays.

Tickets: $12 to $20, depending on time of day. Kids 17 and younger free. [phone]; www.lacma.org.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) ``THE TREACHERY OF IMAGES (THIS IS NOT A PIPE)'' (1929)

(2 -- color) ``DECALCOMANIA'' (1966)

(3 -- color) ``THE HUMAN CONDITION'' (1933)

(4 -- color) ``TIME TRANSFIXED'' (1938)